The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) conducted a study on the allowance rates for Social Security Administration (SSA) disability benefits, revealing significant variations among administrative law judges. These variations persisted even when controlling for various factors such as claimant characteristics, judges’ backgrounds, and hearing office locations.
The study found that the allowance rate could differ by up to 46 percentage points depending on which judge presided over a typical disability claim. While SSA officials attributed this variation to the complexity of appeals and judicial discretion, efforts to enhance quality assurance and judge training led to a 5 percentage point reduction in the variation between 2007 and 2015.
Factors associated with a higher likelihood of claimants receiving benefits included having legal representation, such as an attorney or family member. Conversely, backlogged claims in hearing offices did not impact allowance rates significantly.
SSA conducts multiple quality assurance reviews of hearings decisions by administrative law judges, but some overlap exists without systematic evaluation. GAO recommended that SSA assess the efficiency and effectiveness of these reviews to better allocate resources and improve decision accuracy and consistency.
Individuals dissatisfied with initial disability benefit decisions can appeal to one of SSA’s 1,500 administrative law judges. GAO’s report highlights the need for oversight of judges’ decisions to ensure fairness and consistency in the disability claims process.
Attribution:
This article was summarized and republished from the original source.
Please check the original article here: https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-18-37.